Mulholland tells Wetherspoon to stick to Otley timetable

Out-spoken MP Greg Mulholland has turned his fire on JD Wetherspoon — over delays in re-opening a pub in Otley.

The Bowling Green pub has been closed for three years — and Wetherspoon has been repeatedly criticised for taking so long to re-develop the pub.

Most recently , it delayed a works programme that would have sen the pub re-open this month.

But a spokesman for the company said this week : "We will be starting work in January with the pub due to open some time in March."

Greg Mulholland, Otley MP and honorary president of Otley Pub Club, said he hoped the company would follow-through this time.

He said: "At last it seems that work will finally start on the old Bowling Green. It is a shame it has taken so long but it is good news that this pub will be brought back into use and that this important building will no longer be an eyesore.

"I just hope Wetherspoons stick to this timetable, people in Otley will not put up with further delays."

Last month, a protest banner accusing J D Wetherspoon of allowing the site to become an "eyesore" appeared outside the pub, which the company bought in 2006.